ITALICS Women’s History Month Special features two historians: Anna Pizzuti, a teacher who created a historical online database on Jews interned in Italy during Fascism, and Marcella Bencivenni, HOSTOS teacher and current editor of “The Italian American Review.”

Born in Brooklyn to Abbruzzese immigrants and raised in Staten Island, Donato Di Camillo’s works have been printed in over forty publications nationwide, in just the past year. He talks with Lucia Grillo about his journey to discovering his passion for photography and his unique perspective.

Filmmaker Natalie Abruzzo talks with Lucia Grillo about her documentary short, “The Sixty-Six Percent.” Hon. Francesco Genuardi, Consul General of Italy in New York, is among honorees at the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum fundraiser.

This episode of ITALICS features Giovanni Reda, skateboarding’s most celebrated photographer. Mr. Reda is also a director, whose latest documentary - about acclaimed pro skater, Brian Anderson, recently coming out – has earned immense acclaim and support from the community, and due recognition: a feature in the New York Times, airing on Viceland, and new projects in the works. Lucia Grillo meets up with Mr. Reda at Diamond Supply NYC to talk with the artist during a retrospective of his photography.

ITALICS attends an outdoor performance of Harry Warren’s classics at the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum in Staten Island. Oscar-winning composer of such hits as "Lullaby of Broadway," Harry Warren was the first major American songwriter to write primarily for film, including the first blockbuster on-screen musical “42nd Street.” Born Salvatore Antonio Guaragna, Warren wrote over 800 songs, among them "At Last," rendered beloved to the modern listener by Etta James’s powerful voice. Alex Leonard performs some of Warren’s standards and gives a history of famous Italian American crooners who also sang his songs.

Francesco Genuardi, Consul General of Italy in New York and Piero Bassetti, President of Globus et Locus
cordially invite you to attend the book launch for Let's Wake Up, Italics! Manifesto for a Glocal Future,
by Piero Bassetti.

June 7, 2017, at 5:30 PMConsolato Generale d'Italia a New York690 Park Avenue, New York, NY

An exhibition at the Calandra Institute April 20, 2017 through August 31, 2017.

Opening reception Thursday, April 20, 6PM.

"Over twenty years ago, William Papaleo moved to Naples to practice the art he had learned in the U.S. A third-generation U.S. American with ancestors from Italy, Papaleo is diﬀerent from most Italian American artists who use Italy to set up a sense of the past and reconnect to it through travel. Their art, more oﬅen than not focuses on the family and their own reactions to retiring to the home of their ancestors. What you ﬁnd in Papaleo’s art is something new, something all other Italian Americans have not dealt with, and that is the role of the immigrant in today’s Italy. It is through art like this work, that we can we reach beyond the real, and sometime we even achieve the impossible."

The Italian American experience can serve as a blueprint for understanding the myths behind nativism and nationalism, as Italian Americans have been central to twentieth century American political events including anarchism and fascism. Using lessons from the past, Maria Laurino aims to present a nuanced understanding of immigrant history as well as a means to tease myth from reality.

Maria Laurino is the author of The Italian Americans: A History, the companion book to a four-part PBS documentary series, as well as the memoirs, Old World Daughter, New World Mother, a meditation on contemporary feminism, and the national bestseller, Were You Always an Italian?, an exploration of ethnic identity. Laurino began her career as a staff writer at the Village Voice. She left the Voice to serve as the chief speechwriter to former New York City Mayor David N. Dinkins. Laurino’s work has appeared in the New York Times, The Washington Post, Daily News, The Nation, Salon.com, and numerous publications. Her essays have been widely anthologized, including in the Norton Reader. Laurino teaches creative nonfiction in the undergraduate writing program at New York University.

This month’s episode of ITALICS brings us: Lucia Grillo talks with Nicky Sitnycky, owner of John’s of 12th Street; Cheryl Della Pietra, author of “Gonzo Girl”; NOIAW, the National Organization of Italian American Women, holds a special celebration honoring the recent appointments of two Italian American women: Janet DiFiore, and Maria T. Vullo.